Immigration asks to hear from man who aided Gaddafi

Immigration asks to hear from Gary Peters, who aided Saadi Gaddafi

An Ontario security contractor who helped members of the Gaddafi family flee Libya last year says he has been summoned by immigration authorities to explain why he should be allowed to remain in Canada.

Gary Peters, president of Can/Aust Security and Investigations International Inc., said Monday he received a letter from the Canada Border Services Agency ordering him to appear at its office in Mississauga, Ont., on Feb. 28.

“I’ve got to prove that I’m still allowed to stay here,” said Mr. Peters, a citizen of Australia who has landed immigrant status in Canada. The letter sent by the CBSA warned he would be arrested if he did not show up, he said.

The letter said the interview was required to assess whether he was admissible to Canada. Under federal immigration law, the CBSA can begin inadmissibility proceedings against a non-Canadian suspected of involvement in serious criminality, terrorism or war crimes.

“I rang up and I said, ‘Am I in trouble?’ And they just said, ‘We do this routine and through recent events we want to ask some questions.’ That’s all they said.” He said the CBSA referred to “recent events in the media.”

In an interview with the National Post last October, Mr. Peters, a former Australian soldier, said he helped dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s sons and daughter escape to Algeria during the Libyan revolution.

He also described how he helped Col. Gaddafi’s son, Saadi, escape to Niger in a convoy.

The RCMP questioned him after his return to Canada, but he does not face any criminal charges. “I’ve broken no laws,” he said.

The United Nations Security Council imposed a travel ban and assets freeze on Mr. Gaddafi last February. He is now living in exile in Niger. His father and one of his brothers were later captured and killed in Libya.

Mexican officials visited Canada in January to question Mr. Peters about Cynthia Vanier, a Canadian mediator he had accompanied on a 10-day fact-finding mission to wartime Libya that was financed by SNC-Lavalin.

Mexican authorities subsequently charged Ms. Vanier over an alleged plot to smuggle Mr. Gaddafi and his family to a home near Puerto Vallarta. But Ms. Vanier’s family and lawyers insist she is innocent and are confident she will be eventually released.

Last week, Stéphane Roy, the SNC-Lavalin executive who had dealt with Ms. Vanier, left the company. A second executive, Riadh Ben Aissa, who oversaw the company’s Libya operations, also resigned.
National Postsbell@nationalpost.com